"“I would cite you to the Apostle Paul and his clear
and wise command in Romans 13, to obey the laws of the government
because God has ordained the government for his purposes,” Sessions said
during a speech to law enforcement officers in Fort Wayne, Ind.
“Orderly and lawful processes are good in themselves. Consistent and
fair application of the law is in itself a good and moral thing, and
that protects the weak and protects the lawful.”
Government officials occasionally refer to the Bible as a line of argument — take, for instance, the Republicans who have quoted 2 Thessalonians (“if a man will not work, he shall not eat”) to justify more stringent food stamps requirements.
But the verse that Sessions cited, Romans 13, is an unusual choice.
“There
are two dominant places in American history when Romans 13 is invoked,”
said John Fea, a professor of American history at Messiah College in
Pennsylvania. “One is during the American Revolution [when] it was
invoked by loyalists, those who opposed the American Revolution.”
The
other, Fea said, “is in the 1840s and 1850s, when Romans 13 is invoked
by defenders of the South or defenders of slavery to ward off
abolitionists who believed that slavery is wrong. I mean, this is the
same argument that Southern slaveholders and the advocates of a Southern
way of life made.”"
